1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to displays.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic displays are commonly used in shops and other public areas to carry advertising material and the like. Such an arrangement may be referred to as “digital signage”.
A common arrangement is for a television monitor and video player (e.g. a VHS cassette tape player) to play out material encouraging shoppers to buy goods laid out near to the television monitor. A more advanced arrangement is provided by, for example, the Sony ® NSP100™ digital playout system. This device is a networked playout device which receives video (and, optionally, audio) material and a playout schedule over a digital network, and then plays out the video and audio material on a display device at times indicated by the schedule.
While these arrangements provide a degree of user control over the material played out—for example, the user can select a tape cassette or can load desired material onto the NSP100 playout system—it is relatively difficult to tailor the displayed material to best suit a current audience.
WO 01/45004 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,696 disclose digital signage arrangements which use a detection of the audience to affect the material played out. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,696, proximity detectors are used to detect the presence of a viewer at a display screen, which causes the display screen to be switched from an idle to an active mode. WO 01/45004 purports to use a detection of certain characteristics of a viewer in front of a display screen to control the selection of material to be played out at that display screen.